Cultural practices and development outcomes in Bongo, southwest Bhutan
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Cultural practices and development outcomes in Bongo, southwest Bhutan. / Chophel, Dendup.
2019. Abstract from Australian Anthropological Society Annual Conference 2019, Canberra, Australia.Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference abstract for conference › Research
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TY - ABST
T1 - Cultural practices and development outcomes in Bongo, southwest Bhutan
AU - Chophel, Dendup
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Gross National Happiness (GNH) is a development approach that recognises the diversity of ends in human life, or what can be called value systems. A desirable outcome within the GNH paradigm is conceived as a way of life, which enjoys material sufficiency that are in harmony with what the environment can sustainably provide, and what is consistent with cultural values and practices of the people. At a philosophical level, this approach is close to the way of life in Bongo, a marginal village in the border regions of Bhutan. However, when implemented as policy practice, the planning system in Bhutan undermines the very values that it promotes at a philosophical level. This happens because unlike GNH as a ‘philosophy’, which is indigenous to Bhutan and which is informed by global discourses on sustainable and desirable practices, GNH as a ‘planning system’ in Bhutan is borrowed from elsewhere, and so heavily influenced by them. Thus, instead of upholding Bongo’s development culture and practices as ideal outcomes, it has to undermine them in order to achieve harmony with its system imperatives. This paper is the outcome of a year’s ethnographic fieldwork conducted as part of a doctoral project and the ethnographer’s background in policy analysis and development theories. The presentation of ethnographic materials revolves around a single person who is concurrently a member of the Bongo community and a part of the state development apparatus, thus inhabiting and negotiating two ‘value arenas’.
AB - Gross National Happiness (GNH) is a development approach that recognises the diversity of ends in human life, or what can be called value systems. A desirable outcome within the GNH paradigm is conceived as a way of life, which enjoys material sufficiency that are in harmony with what the environment can sustainably provide, and what is consistent with cultural values and practices of the people. At a philosophical level, this approach is close to the way of life in Bongo, a marginal village in the border regions of Bhutan. However, when implemented as policy practice, the planning system in Bhutan undermines the very values that it promotes at a philosophical level. This happens because unlike GNH as a ‘philosophy’, which is indigenous to Bhutan and which is informed by global discourses on sustainable and desirable practices, GNH as a ‘planning system’ in Bhutan is borrowed from elsewhere, and so heavily influenced by them. Thus, instead of upholding Bongo’s development culture and practices as ideal outcomes, it has to undermine them in order to achieve harmony with its system imperatives. This paper is the outcome of a year’s ethnographic fieldwork conducted as part of a doctoral project and the ethnographer’s background in policy analysis and development theories. The presentation of ethnographic materials revolves around a single person who is concurrently a member of the Bongo community and a part of the state development apparatus, thus inhabiting and negotiating two ‘value arenas’.
M3 - Conference abstract for conference
T2 - Australian Anthropological Society Annual Conference 2019
Y2 - 2 December 2019 through 5 December 2019
ER -
ID: 385837411